178 



NOMENCLATURE OF GRAPES. 



however closely they may have resembled it, could not there- 

 fore have been of this kind. 



Another fact is certain, that several native vines which I 

 have received from different parts of our country, so greatly 

 resemble in foliage, wood, and manner of growth the real 

 Bland grape, that I strongly suspect further examination 

 will identify them with it, and prove that this variety is found 

 wild in more than one state of the Union. And even among 

 those native varieties, whose fruit essentially differs, there 

 are several whose foliage possesses the same general character- 

 istics, particularly in regard to colour and form, insomuch 

 that I doubt not but further investigation will class them un- 

 der one head as the varieties of a single species, distinct from 

 V. labrusca, or form them into a group of natural hybrids. 



It appears that Colonel Bland, of Virginia, was among the 

 first that brought this vine into notice and cultivation, from 

 which circumstance his cognomen was attached to it at that 

 time, by which title it has been most generally known since. 



The original vine is said to have been found on the eastern 

 shore of Virginia, by Col. B. who presented scions of it to 

 Mr. Bartram, and to the late Samuel Powel, Esq. and some 

 of the persons who obtained it from the latter gave it the 

 title of Powel grape after him. 



Dr. Norton, of Virginia, the gentleman previously referred 

 to, and whose opinion certainly merits much weight, differs 

 from me in the statements here advanced as to its origin, and 

 in a recent letter makes the following remarks : " It is hardly 

 probable that this fruit should have escaped my observation if 

 it was indigenous to my country, having walked so repeatedly 

 through the forest lands in most quarters of the state, always 

 having an eye to its productions. No such grape belongs to 

 America, I assure you ; I have found grapes resembling the 

 Bland on the borders of neglected old fields ; and amongst 

 the ruins of the gardens which were established in the early 

 settlement of the country, the Bland grape itself. The first I 

 considered as a seedling of the Mazzei grape, but I have never 



